“As far as I'm concerned, there's no reason why any elite player wouldn't want to be playing for Liverpool."

The words of Liverpool chairman Tom Werner ring pretty confidently ahead of their Champions League final clash with Tottenham, and he's not exactly wrong.

Under the superb management of Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool have emerged as one of the leading contenders in the Premier League and a European finalist for the second year running.

"We have such a strong squad with a strong back office and a manager who I think is one of the greatest managers in world football," Werner told the Liverpool Echo.

“So I don't think there is going to be any players who if they were invited to play for Liverpool, wouldn't jump at the opportunity.”

Coutinho's Liverpool departure

The Reds are certainly finding it easier to attract big names from world football, having recruited the likes of Alisson Becker and Virgil van Dijk over the last 18 months.

However, there has been one particular individual who bucked the trend by jumping ship and that man is Philippe Coutinho, who departed for Barcelona back in January 2018.

At the time, it seemed like a respectable career decision, but the premonitions of Klopp have come true and Coutinho now finds himself struggling at Camp Nou.

Does Coutinho regret leaving?

With reports rife that Coutinho could be offloaded in the summer and fresh from a 4-0 thrashing against his old, Werner believes the Brazilian is living to regret his decision.

“I would just point to the story of Philippe Coutinho,” Werner added.

“I have only good things to say about Philippe. But I think he left Liverpool because he wanted to play for one of the two big Spanish clubs.

“We tried to convince him that we had the club moving in the right direction and that he could experience big Champions League occasions by staying at Liverpool.

"I think he probably regrets his decision.”

The reference to dramatic Champions League nights has got to hurt. The very argument that Liverpool used to try and keep Coutinho might just have finished him at Barcelona.

In the time since his departure, the former Liverpool man has missed thrilling wins over Manchester City, AS Roma, Paris-Saint Germain and Bayern Munich. 

However, there can be no question that the Barcelona comeback was the crowning jewel and Coutinho could have been a part of that if he believed what Werner told him.

But Coutinho is now having to live with the fact that life at Barcelona isn't so easy and only time will tell whether he's played his last game for the Blaugrana already.

Do you think Coutinho regrets leaving Liverpool? Have your say in the comments section below.